Change Ain't Bad

Okay. So, like, as people, we rail against change. I realize not everyone's the same in this regard and that it's entirely situational (if my life was about to change by way of inheriting a ton of money from some distant so-and-so, I'd be so ready) but no one's ready for the death of a loved one, for their car to break down, finally, forever, to be suddenly faced with having to sell their most precious belongings just to stay alive, etc.

But change happens. Life goes on, time persists in whatever bizarre and cosmic way it does, matter moves, and people keep people-ing. In Nicholas Carr's Atlantic article "Is Google Making Us Stupid?" he addresses personal issues with The Google Machine, and bemoans a newly developed lack of attention and deep-reading ability and a general change in the way that he and other outspoken Gen-X technophobes operate on a cognitive and neurological level. But, okay, so we maybe we can't make a habit out of six-hour sessions of  A Tale of Two Cities. I think I'll get over it.

The idea that our thought patterns are shifting as a species is probably mostly true. And I hope so: a new pattern of thought might be what our planet needs. With the outbreak of the smartphone epidemic in 2010, the right-on-our-heels Google Fiber, and even interplanetary colonization, we're on the cusp of ultimate human togetherness. Our work has become ubiquitously collaborative, and it can be, on a global level. We can instantaneously cooperate to write songs or stories, create and operate a business, or start and carry out a disaster relief effort with anyone in the entire world. This allows for some incredible things. Websites like AllExperts.com, Wikipedia.org, or the Tree of Life Web Project represent communities of professionals and experts all over the world, giving the planetary public near-instant access to coveted information about anything you could want to know ever. Imagine Gregor Mendel, who gave us the modern idea of genetic inheritance, and Carl Nägeli a Swiss botanist that discouraged Mendel's ideas, communicating by email or via Twitter instead of handwritten letters sent by a mail system contemporary to the Pony Express.

And maybe the rapidity with which Nägeli could reply would have been irreparably off-putting to Mendel. But the LEGIONS of other prominent scientists using Twitter would have been able to see Mendel's enthusiastic Tweet and join in the conversation, allowing for quick and productive peer-review.

This emphasis on communication and collaboration reminds me of a video I watched during the academic cold-spell of winter break. It addresses the idea that nothing is entirely our own, and that creation is really just recreation, and that nothing can ever be made without a group of contributors.
  

So don't rage against the machine. Bask in that shit. We're moving into an age of unity through technology. Hop aboard the proverbial express train to human cooperation and collaborative innovation. It's gonna be a good ride.